The Barefield Lab is interested in studying the pathological mechanisms of human gene mutations that cause inherited cardiomyopathy and arrhythmias, and how additional genetic and environmental factors influence the progression of the disease.  The major project in the lab is studying the role of the novel atrial myofilament protein myosin binding protein H-like (MyBP-HL).  As atrial contractility is not well studied in cardiomyopathy and heart disease, we also investigate how atrial dysfunction can contribute to other cardiovascular diseases.  We use mouse and cell culture models to study disease, as well as computational approaches to evaluate RNA-Sequencing data and large public data sets to evaluate the genetic links of atrial myopathy.